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10 Tech Tips for Job Hunting

Not everyone can make a resume like Philippe Dubost’s. The French Web product manager designed what’s been called the “best online resume ever.” It looks like an Amazon.com product page. (You can see it here.)

Here are details about the five tips Stacy talked about, plus five more:

1. Get a lot out of LinkedIn

As the expert said in the video, LinkedIn is “one of the strongest technology tools” you can use. But be careful. Use it the wrong way, and it can cost you the contacts you crave. Here’s some advice from LinkedIn members themselves: Don’t get personal. This isn’t Facebook.

“Mentioning personal things – like what you had for breakfast and the fact your dog is sick today – is just wrong,” insists one LinkedIn member. “This suggests to the business professionals in your network that you don’t really respect their time.”

2. Search the company’s soul

Stacy recommended, “Do as much research as possible on the company. Facebook and Glassdoor.com can help.” But don’t stop there. Besides checking out the company’s own website, locate the names of the owners, officers or even the managers you might deal with. Then look them up. If you learn something unsavory, don’t apply. If you learn something interesting, you might have a compliment to drop into the conversation during a job interview.

3. App-ly yourself

These days, anything you can do online, you can do on your smartphone. That includes job searching. From LinkedIn to CareerBuilder, there are apps for that. Why bother? Because these days, you need to move fast to snag a job.

There are also apps that make it easier to visualize where the jobs are. JobCompass shows you jobs in your area on a map, and while it’s available online, it’s actually easier to use as an app.

4. Keep up your profile

This is one of those pieces of advice that elicit, “Yeah, duh” – but then we forget to do it. Updating your profile on any social media platform is crucial when you’re job hunting. A prospective employer doesn’t want to see a profile that’s out-of-date.

If you’re unemployed or underemployed, volunteer with nonprofits that will impress bosses in your field, then update your profile accordingly.

5. Be professional all over the place

The last thing a boss wants to see on your social media profile is a photo of you binge drinking, or posts that say something inappropriate or poke fun at your last boss. Even if your profile is private, treat it like it’s public. Because you never know what’s going to get around.

6. Go beyond LinkedIn

A Jobvite survey of 1,000 HR managers and recruiters last summer revealed that, while 93 percent use LinkedIn, “Two-third of recruiters use Facebook to find new talent [and] 54 percent of recruiters now use Twitter for their talent search.”

If you don’t use Twitter, consider opening an account and tweeting about the field you wish to work in. Tweet links to interesting articles and comment on them. Also consider cleaning up your Facebook page by deleting some content and adjusting your privacy settings so that flattering content is public while personal content stays within a tight circle of friends. (Also, remember No. 5 above.)

7. Don’t try to hide online

If you’re thinking, “Hey I just won’t mention to a job interviewer that I have a Twitter account,” think again. These days, hiring managers don’t just read your resume and cover letter. It’s just as simple for them to search you as it is for you to search them.

8. Chip away at the unflattering content

You can pay companies to “clean up” search results of your name, but there’s a cheaper and easier way: Replace it with more flattering content. Since you need to show you’re active in career and life, write a guest column for a well-regarded website on something you’re an expert in. Post thoughtful comments to national blog posts. You can also simply ask for offending content to be removed – the worst that can happen is the site’s owner says no.

9. Keep an eye on yourself

Savvy job hunters create Google Alerts for their own names. That way, if unsavory content about themselves appears online, they can quickly deal with it.

10. Promote yourself for free

Web design can be difficult and time-consuming. But there are many sites that allow you to build a few pages that look amazing, and it takes just a few minutes. They range from A (about.me is popular) to almost Z (wix.com is growing fast).

Bottom line: There’s no reason you can’t put your best foot forward online – with just a few taps of your fingers.